Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to electrical interruption equipment and, more particularly, to a flexible connection apparatus that is configured to provide an electrical connection between a vacuum interrupter and another conductor.
Related Art
Various types of electrical interruption devices are well known in the relevant art. Such electrical interruption devices are known to include circuit breakers, fuses, vacuum interrupters, and numerous such other devices. Such devices are configured to open a protected portion of a circuit in certain overcurrent and under-voltage conditions, as well as in other conditions. While such devices have been generally effective for their intended purposes, they have not been without limitation.
As is generally understood, a vacuum interrupter typically includes a vacuum bottle that contains a stationary contact and a movable contact within an evacuated environment. The movable contact is connected with an elongated shank that extends outside the evacuated region and that is connectable with an operating mechanism to change the state of the vacuum interrupter, i.e., to move the set of contacts between an OPEN condition and a CLOSED condition. Such vacuum interrupters further include a flexible connector that is electrically conductive and that flexibly extends between the movable shank and another conductor such as a primary conductor of the circuit. Since vacuum interrupters by their nature employ a translating conductive element (movable contact and shank) rather than a pivoting one (such as a moving contact arm in a circuit breaker), the flexible connector that extends between the shank and the other conductor must move a relatively great distance when the vacuum interrupter changes states and thus typically experiences significant stress and strain. Eventually, such connectors can fail, which is undesirable and is preferably avoided. Improvements therefore would be desirable.